New York Firefighters: The Brotherhood Of 9/11

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All Rise...

The Charge

"As we always say, 'Expect the unexpected,' but sometimes the unexpected
gets you. That's what happened. Nobody expected that."—Firefighter
Mickey Conboy, on the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Opening Statement

We still haven't recovered, really. On the day Americans will forever
remember as "9/11," the world recoiled in shock as we watched, again
and again on videotape, the destruction of Manhattan's World Trade Center by
terrorists using passenger jetliners as missiles. In the collapse of the WTC's
twin towers, and in the simultaneous attack on the Pentagon and crashlanding of
a fourth plane in Pennsylvania, roughly 3,000 lives were extinguished.

To many of us living in other places far removed from the tragedies, the
dead were little more than family photos flashed on our TV screens and names
read from a seemingly endless roll. But to those who knew and loved those who
were murdered, they were husbands and wives, sons and daughters, parents,
grandparents and friends.

To the men of FDNY Rescue Company Three and their families, eight of the
lost were their own.

Facts of the Case

Firefighters arrive at every duty shift with the unspoken understanding that
they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice. Most days, though, no
one does. They respond to calls. They return to the station. They eat and sleep
and laugh and quarrel. And on the infrequent occasion when a firefighter falls
in the line of duty, the loss can usually be ascribed to one of the acknowledged
day-to-day dangers of the trade. But as Mickey Conboy observes, no one in the
Fire Department of New York could have anticipated the events of 9/11.

The men of Rescue Three do not literally fight fires. Their vehicles are
equipped with neither hoses nor water. Instead, Rescue Three carries on its
emergency runs specialized tools for extricating people from
wreckage—structural, automotive, whatever—and its personnel are
extensively trained in life-saving techniques. Where their comrades in
hook-and-ladder companies will arrive at a scene determined to battle a blaze,
Rescue Three's focus is on aiding the potential victims. On 9/11, eight heroes
from Rescue Three followed that focus into the World Trade Center, and became
victims themselves.

In this documentary, originally aired on the Discovery cable channel, we
meet Rescue Three's survivors: the firefighters who mourn their fallen brothers;
the wives whose husbands will never again return home from the firehouse; the
children whose fathers will never again coach their basketball games or attend
their school celebrations. Mere weeks after the terrorist onslaught, life and
the business of saving it continue unabated at Rescue Three, but are haunted by
the omnipresent specters of the eight men whose names remain grease-penciled on
the duty roster for that fateful day in September.

Through the memories of those left behind, the horrific events of our
nation's most ghastly fever dream take on a human face.

The Evidence

The words that repeated themselves over and over in my brain as I watched
this documentary: "too soon." Understanding tragedy requires the
perspective of history. (A case in point: only in the second half of the 20th
century, some five generations after the conflict, did Americans really begin to
come to grips with the fallout of the Civil War, thanks to such people as Shelby
Foote, James McPherson, Ken Burns, and the men and women of the civil rights
movement.) When the cameras enter Rescue Three less than a month after the World
Trade Center fell, the firemen and the families are still in shock. They are
still attending funerals for those who died. The remains of only two of the
eight men lost from Rescue Three have yet been laid to rest. Even as the
participants reminisce about the deceased, they do so while still walking that
twilight precipice of raw emotions yet unresolved.

As a result, we don't learn much from this film except that the sudden death
of loved ones is heartbreaking, and we already knew that, somehow. It's not the
filmmakers' fault, and it certainly isn't the fault of those willing to speak
candidly about their pain and loss. This is an accurate representation of this
moment in their lifetimes. I suspect, however, that if these same people were
interviewed today, their reflections would be richer and deeper, and thus more
illuminating. As it is, the film feels hollow and ill-defined.

Almost nothing is said about the attack itself, though the interview
sequences at Rescue Three are buttressed with now-familiar archival footage shot
on-scene as the twin towers imploded. There is little if any conversation about
the people who wrought this disaster, or the "war on terrorism" their
acts engendered. That's all right—at least the film doesn't degenerate
into political polemic—but again, from the perspective of one year later
there's an unfinished quality to it all. Director Peter Schnall does what he
can, and to his credit he avoids the appearance of opportunistic exploitation
(there's no microphone-waving in front of tearful faces—"your
husband's dead, how do you feel?"). Schnall treats his subjects with
dignity and grace, weaving the vignettes together with narration by actress
Stockard Channing (Grease, The West
Wing). But because the psychological wounds are still so fresh, there's not
much insight to be gained.

The DVD presentation is simple, even stark. The picture and audio quality
are what you'd expect from a no-budget, limited-timeframe, made-for-TV
documentary shot on video. No extra content is included.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

The Discovery Channel folks should be ashamed of themselves for opening this
disc—given its subject matter—with a self-promotional introduction
clip that can't be jumped over, exited, or scanned through. If there was ever an
occasion to skip the commercial plug, Discovery, I'm pretty sure this DVD was
it.

Closing Statement

Tough call. As much as I felt for the family members and firefighters who
exposed their grief for our edification, this rushed-to-cablecast documentary
lacks the visceral, mule-kick-in-the-gut impact of 9/11, the harrowing view from inside the maelstrom
captured by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. It would make an interesting artifact if
director Schnall revisited these people in a year or two, then again five years
hence, in the manner of Michael Apted's Up
series of continuing documentaries. I would hope that time will have given these
brave men, women, and young people a measure of peace. Indeed, I hope the same
for us all.

The Verdict

No human court could render a verdict here. Case dismissed.

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